Aspect
by Hope Estheim
Summary: Touko saw him for the first time in the local market. He was not someone she would double-take at, but there is just something about him that draws her in... NxTouko, AU, lemon.
1. Chapter 1

Aspect

Rating: M

Summary: Touko saw him for the first time in the local market. He was not someone she would double-take at, but there is just something about him that draws her in... NxTouko

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Touko struggled to hold onto the lemons she picked up to inspect. She honestly had no idea that with a single glance she would spot someone as attractive as him. The only reason she looked on over in the first place was because of the commotion caused around him, mostly due to females trying to squeal discreetly.

She stared without shame, eyes wide, and lips pursed tightly to prevent her jaw from dropping. The man across the street was leaning casually against an old city building, arms crossed and one leg bent, his foot flat against the wall. He wore a plain black shirt, faded blue jeans and white sneakers. With hair as green as his, and matching eyes to boot, it is no surprise that he would grab some attention, maybe a bit more with such a lax pose, but there was just something about him that screamed for attention.

And it looked as if it was unwanted. From her quick observation, Touko took note of the small twitch of annoyance in the corner of his eye, but he kept his face emotionless, his head turned to look down the road as if waiting for something. Or someone.

One bold girl went up to the mystery man, her face flushed, eyes wide and lashes batting coyly. She was really cute, her red locks flowed almost perfectly down her back, a dark purple tank fitting nicely to her figure and a grey pleated skirt, knee-low, to show off her tanned legs. It made Touko feel like a slob with her own sloppy ponytail, large white t-shirt and boot cut jeans.

'Why would I need to dress up for the market anyways,' she thought a tad bitterly, turning back to her lemon inspecting. There was no point in wishing or fantasizing for the handsome stranger across the road when there was no way she was fit for such strong competition. 'But, still... '

Touko peeked over her shoulder, watching the cute woman try to converse with the beautiful male, hands clasped behind her back, leaning forward and giving the perfect cleavage peek from someone of his height. Or maybe she was just really tiny.

His head finally turned towards the woman in front of him and Touko held her breath, watching the interaction with a sinking heart, as well as every other female in the market. He kept his eyes to her face, showing zero interest. He gave no smile, no indication that her act was having any effect on him.

The bold woman faltered for a moment, her shoulders tensing a little but she gave an award winning smile, flashing pearly whites.

The man only blinked down at her and turned his head to look down the road again. The woman huffed, her face reddened from the embarrassment of being rejected in public and stormed away, but not before flashing a rude hand gesture to the spectators.

'Maybe he bats for his own team,' Touko thought tiredly and finally gave her full attention to her fresh fruit hunting, but not before seeing other women in the market turning away as well, probably coming to the same conclusion as she and had given up.

"You have been holding those for an awfully long time, I do hope you plan on buying them..." The elderly male vendors voice trailed off, arms crossed and a single brow raised.

"Y—yes, of course," Touko swallowed loudly and shakily stuffed the lemons into a plastic market bag. She handed the man the exact change before skittering off, face flushed.

She went to the next stall with various veggies and headed to the cart with sweet carrots. She decided to just try to assess them with her eyes because she felt the back of her neck began to sweat from restraint and that would mean losing her concentration, holding the food longer than usual and making the merchants upset. In no time her hands were clenching and she could bare it no longer.

Taking another peek over her shoulder, she saw that the beautiful male had stuffed his hands into his pocket with slight aggression and spun on the spot, heading in the opposite direction he was looking at.

Touko felt the urge to follow him but recoiled mentally as soon as the idea reached her logical part of her mind. 'I'm not going to stoop myself so low as to stalk some good looking guy! Belle would have a field day if she ever found out,'.

. . .

She pursed her lips and lowered her brows. She had returned to that market the next day because she was so up in the clouds that she had forgotten to get a couple of tomatoes and celery. But the distraction was back in the same spot, same time, same clothes.

'Is he homeless?' Touko questioned herself and before she could stop herself, she felt her feet moving in his direction.

If she had not been staring so intently at his face she would have missed the way his eyes quickly flickered to her, mild annoyance written all over his face with the tugging at the corner of his lips. It almost made her trip.

When she stood in front of the mysterious man, or at least trying to while getting bumped into by other people, she opened her mouth and tried to sound intelligent.

"So, uh, is everything... ah, okay?" She could just die right there.

He had raised his eye brow at her and gave a 'are you stupid' look. She wanted the earth to swallow her whole, right now.

"I mean, I saw you here yesterday and I realized you're still wearing the same clothes. Uhm, what I am getting at is... are you homeless?" Realizing how forward and rude that sounded, Touko waved her hands animatedly around her, panicking. "I—I just thought maybe I could buy you a new set of clothes, not that those are dirty or anything, in fact they look quite clean... but, but I can also buy you a meal and give you some money to help you with food for a few days... unless you plan on buying alcohol with it... " She trailed off and bit the inside of her cheek, willing herself not to cry by how she made a fool of herself.

But her heart fluttered when she saw surprise and amusement in his green eyes yet his mouth did not quirk up in a smile. "I am fine."

"I know you are," Touko grinned then slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

The mans amusement died instantly and he gave her a flat look.

'Great going, White,' Touko mentally scolded herself and her shoulders drooped. "I am so sorry. I'll be honest with you, you are something different, for around here anyways. I'm going to assume you're a foreigner?"

"I am."

She sighed mentally. His voice was smooth, deep, and pleasing to the ears. "Were you waiting for someone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"... "

"Sorry for prying. Accumula Town isn't very large so there is a lot of familiar faces. Perhaps I can help you find this person?"

"I won't be meeting them for a couple more days. Or something. Our meeting is not set in stone."

"Erm... " Touko frowned and stepped back a bit, arms crossed and head cocked to the side. She could not figure this guy out. And he was utterly confusing. "Well if you are not meeting for a couple more days, did you want me to keep you company?"

His deadpan stare returned to her, absolutely dreary looking, of course.

"N—not like that! I could show you around if you haven't viewed the place yet. It must be boring to be waiting here day after day... after day."

Touko looked in his eyes, trying to decipher what he was feeling or thinking but to no avail. She held back a disappointed sigh and instead gave a wry smile and small wave. "Well, enjoy your stay here and I hope you find the person you're looking for."

Touko stepped away and walked back down the street. 'Screw the vegetables,' she thought dejectedly and was ready to take off in a sprint until she felt fingers touching the middle of her back, sending a sharp shiver down her back. She gasped and whirled around.

The strange man had also recoiled, bringing his hand up to inspect his fingers for any signs of burns. He had not expected such a reaction to touching her and looked passed his fingers to see a light flush rise up on her cheeks. "I am… quite bored." He mumbled quietly. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

"Ah, it's n—no problem." Touko swallowed and smiled with glee at his sudden change of heart. "My name is Touko."

"Touko," he tested, the name rolling smoothly off his tongue and rang in his ears. He resisted the urge to shake his head at the new feeling. "My name is N."

"N? Just N?" She gave an amused smile.

"My full name is Natural, but others find it easier to just say 'N'."

"N it is. So, how about I show you the impressive library first?"

. . .

A/N: I. AM. ALIVE. -jumps off a bridge- The summary is so cheesy ohmyberry but I literally can't think of anything else to.. describe this piece. -sob-

I have been 'working' on it for a little over two years. It originally was going to be a one-shot but then I got really into it and it got too long so yeah.. multi-chapters. I have 14 chapters written so far and I suspect I will finish at 15 or 16 chapters. So yeah... tell me what you think, feel, crave, desire, etc.

A huge thank you to my Beta, BlackRose105 from dA! [Oh God I haven't been on there in a long time either. I'm a shameful human being.]


	2. Chapter 2

The next day at college Touko could not stop sighing as she continuously ran yesterday's events through her mind. The moment she asked if he wanted to see the library, of all places, regret and dismay made themselves known because, honestly, it made her sound like a boring person. 'I just met you and this is crazy, but come to the library and think I'm this amazing person that you would love to hang with on hours on end and perhaps think of reproducing with because you have the finest genes of all... maybe?'

Yeah, right.

But he did not look bored or judgmental. Instead he looked a tad amused and intrigued. She had hope she hit a mark in him being fascinated with books. And he was. He browsed the isles for almost forty minutes, finally picking out a non-fiction book and finding a secluded table to sit out. She herself had picked out a fiction book and sat across from him.

Of course she did not plan on sitting there reading with him, she actually wanted to show him around some more but simply sitting there in comfortable silence felt good enough.

'A plain Jane strikes!' Touko thought childishly, a small smile dancing on her lips as she remembered the day before when N had turned down the beautiful woman at the market. If he noticed her sudden good behavior, he did not comment on it.

They stayed there until closing time and were ushered out by the librarian. N had offered to put the books back but the old crow was adamant to get them out so she could go home.

N had thanked her for the wonderful afternoon and declared he had to leave now and did not know if they would see each other again.

"Oh," she had said stupidly and gave a pathetic wave and a forced smile. "I hope you enjoyed your time then. Bye." She had turned around quite robotically and walked away. There was no way to explain how awkward and disappointed she felt.

Another sigh.

'Maybe I need to take lessons on how to flirt with strangers properly,' she thought with a sliver of dismay. Maybe then she could have interested N.

"Hey, you look down in the dumps. What's up?" A voice trilled happily in front of the brunette, making her lift her head to confirm who she thought it was.

"Hey, Belle."

Beautiful, blond hair, blue eyed Belle. She had met her dear friend only four years ago but only after three years they have almost been inseparable ever since.

It was due to Touko's accident. She was walking home from high school and there was a huge downpour, making it hard to see for both walking pedestrians and drivers alike. She had not seen the red light turn green, taking her chances to sprint across the road. The person driving the car had been too reckless, the need for speed coursing through his veins to feed this particular adrenaline junkie.

It had been quick, striking her within seconds. The collision had surprised the driver, causing him to swerve around and tanking the end of his 'baby' into a building. Two trucks had suffered along with the driver's stupidity.

Touko was laying on the ground, staring up at the sky in shock, the rain drops plopping into her eyes barely bugged her. She could not comprehend what was happening. She felt numb, she could not move but all she wanted to do was get home and out of the rain. She just wanted to go home and warm up. She had homework that needed to be done, chores that would not get done on their own. She didn't like being caught up in the rain, nor the way her socks got more soaked.

Everything faded to black and it did not scare her because the pain was just starting to roll in and it was not something she wanted to stay awake for. When she came to, she saw her mother at the end of the bed, slumped in a chair and sleeping. Besides her was Belle, holding onto the railings on the bed, fat tears and snot running down her face. Even crying she looked beautiful.

Before this, Belle had barely paid attention to her, they only spoke to each other in class because they were partners. But now they were stuck to each other like glue.

"_I had grown attached to you. You're pretty weird_." Was Belle's reply when Touko asked her why she was suddenly talkative.

"You look down in the dumps," Belle took notice of her friend's expression and frowned. "Is something the matter?"

"Well... I met this guy—"

"A guy?! Is he delicious looking?"

"Like a plate of the best lasagna."

"Oh," Belle sighed dramatically and fanned her face. "You must introduce me to him."

"I would, but I only know his name. And he is not even from around here."

"Aw, really?" Belle cocked her hip to the side and place a hand on her waist. "Where did you meet him?"

"The market," Belle rolled her eyes at this and muttered something about it being a 'cliche romance novel moment'. "He said he was waiting for someone there. You should've been there! There was this woman, an eight, maybe even a nine, she tried seducing him with her perfect body but he wasn't into tapping that."

"Seriously? Is he blind?"

"That, or he actually has taste. I did invite him to hang out with me and he agreed."

"Wow," Belle sighed again and placed her hands over her heart. "It's like the perfect start of a romance novel." Honestly, there were hordes of those trashy books in the blonde's locker.

"You read too many of those," Touko chided playfully and opened her locker, stuffing in some textbooks and removing different ones. "It's all going to rot your brain."

"Ha-ha," Belle grinned. "So, tell me this mysterious man's name."

"His name is Natural, but said it was okay to call him N."

"Natural?" Belle's posture became stiff and a dark look crossed her face. "So you're not exaggerating his beauty? Does he have green hair and eyes?"

"Yeah," Touko blinked in confusion at her friends sudden cold behavior. "Do you know him?"

"I do," Belle gave a dainty sniff. "I know him... very well."

"Oh," Touko swallowed thickly and suddenly a sick feeling over came her. "Did you use to... " She couldn't bring herself to ask the dreaded question but her heart sank anyways when her friend averted her eyes.

"We were... partners at one point."

"Oh."

"I gotta go," Belle said abruptly and spun on her heel, heading towards the school exit. "Promise me you won't go near him again, Touko. He's bad news."

Touko breathed deeply, trying to calm her pounding heart. She should have not been surprised or hurt that two beautiful people were wound up together in the past, but she couldn't help it, her emotions would not stop swamping over.

'No, this happened before I met either of them. It is in the past, nothing new,' she tried to assure herself while taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. 'Belle had said he is bad news... did he do something bad in the past? Is he still doing it now?'

Touko felt her nerves fray once again and slammed her locker shut before stumbling off to class. She stared at the teacher in front, not hearing or seeing anything. Her thoughts were filled of the mysterious N and a suddenly distant Belle.

She could not quell the stinging jealousy. It festered annoyingly and made her slam a hand down on the desk without thinking.

"Miss... White," the teacher drawled after looking on the student chart list. "Care to share something with us?"

"Uhm, no, sorry," she mumbled, head dipping in embarrassment when she heard a few cackles of laughter.

The rest of the school day carried on without incident, although many times Touko had wished she could kick all the beautiful couples in the face. How dare they be beautiful and happy. It was unfair.

She tried texting Belle but got no reply. Just where did the woman disappear to? They spent most of their time together after school, unless there was part-time jobs to get to or errands to run. She decided to head to the library to try and finish her homework alone.

It was quiet there, as usual. It allowed her the privilege of talking to herself quietly since she would not be disturbing anyone else. Her mind wouldn't settle down or allow her a moment of peace so she spoke to herself to allow some sanity.

After a couple of minutes the chair across from her squeaked across the floor, followed by a light 'fwump' of someone sitting down. She lifted her head, brows furrowing and mouth open, ready to interrogate the new comer as to why they sat at this table despite the rest of them, being ninety-nine percent empty, but stopped upon seeing who it was.

"Hello," he whispered with a small dip of his head in acknowledgement.

"H—hi," she squeaked and mentally cringed at how high her voice went. "What brings you to the library?"

"You."

Touko believed she could die of utter happiness. A goofy smiled plastered itself on her face and Natural gave a small one of his own, although looking a bit reluctant while doing so.

"Did you find your friend yet?"

"No. And I did not see you at the market today so I came here."

"If I went to the market every day I would be broke."

"Ah, I suppose that would be true."

Touko giggled and stopped. He had said he was looking for a friend... was this 'friend' Belle? She decided to bite the bullet and ask. "So tell me about your friend?"

"Not that important," he waved his hand as if it really wasn't anything major and stopped, eyes widening. His brows furrowed and he frowned. "No... it is important. Please ignore that."

"Okay," Touko bit her tongue and looked down at her half written essay, unsure of what to say now.

"May I see your hand?" His innocent question had blood rushing to her face.

"Sure... " She held her hand out to him and watched with fascination.

He looked so wary of touching her, as if either he would get burned or she would shatter. But when he finally did muster up the courage to touch her, it was unlike anything either of them had ever felt.

Touko felt as if electric currents were traveling underneath her skin, followed by a burning and chilling sensation all at once. Such feelings were causing her to feel weird and she stared over at N, seeing his own eyes wide with wonder. Could this man be tied to her in some way? A soul mate of sorts?

The feelings did not pass but as soon as they came it made her feel warm, her nerves humming in content. N had intertwined his fingers through hers and held it there for what seemed forever. He stared intently at their joint hands, as if trying to make sense of what was going on. Eventually he dislodged his hold on her and held his hand in front of his face.

The feelings went away with his touch and Touko felt a little cold at the loss, but after a moment she felt the normalcy return and shrugged it off.

"Did you feel that too?" He whispered, placing his hand back down and looking at her with confusion.

"Yeah," she whispered back, her eyes more open with emotion.

"What do you think it is?"

"Uhm," she was too embarrassed to say the words 'soul mates' and gave a one shoulder shrug instead. "I don't know."

"It's not normal," he stated and looked uncomfortable. "I never felt this way before when I touched another."

Her pulse quickened. So they had something special, Touko concluded, but in his eyes it was probably disturbing to him. She did not know whether to curl up and die or jump for joy. They said nothing and the silence stretched on.

. . .

A/N: Thanks to BlackRose105 from dA for fixing up my mistakes! ; u; i luv u long tiem.


	3. Chapter 3

After an hour of Touko trying to study, she jumped at the sound of a rough sigh across from her, breaking the silence.

"I shouldn't be here. You are distracting."

"Thanks a lot," she snapped before clamping her lips shut, staring wide eyed.

N also seemed surprised because his own eyes had widened.

"S—sorry, that was rude."

"I should be the one apologizing, I said something out of line. Forgive me."

"Forgiven," Touko sighed ,softly, and closed her book before shoving it in her bag. "I'm going to go now. See 'ya."

"I am sorry, I did not mean to upset you." He frowned and stood up as well, intent to follow.

"I said it was okay, don't worry about it."

"I would like to walk you home."

'_I'm going to have heart failure at a young age.'_ "Maybe that isn't a good idea." Belle's warning words rang at the back of her head but was fading as N got closer.

"Please, I insist. A lady should never walk home alone at night."

"Okay," she said. She could not help it! The guy was a walking hormone generator. Life was cruel to not bless her with such generous genes. It was a surprise he was even paying attention to her at all!

Touko looked over at N from the corner of her eye, paying close attention to his face. _'He doesn't look like a drug user,'_ she mused silently, trying to pick out exactly what Belle was warning her against. And it was not like she could ask him out right directly, it would seem weird and he would get suspicious.

Did he murder people? Maybe Belle had witnessed him killing someone and that is why she left?

"What is on your mind?"

"Nothing," she answered too quickly and mentally winced at the disbelieving brow raising on his face. "Just curious about you."

"Me?"

"Mhmm." She said nothing more. He did not push.

They were silent all the way to her apartment building, and Touko was once again filled with regrets that he was probably bored out of his mind. She may have felt warm fuzzy feelings when he walked her to the door but the same could not be said for him. He looked the same as usual, nearly emotionless.

"Sorry if you were bored tonight. I'm not exactly 'fun' material if I'm working on homework."

"It is fine."

They stood there awkwardly. Well Touko felt awkward. N looked out of place and not giving a hoot. She decided to bite the bullet and ask the question that would either send her sky high happy or shatter her self esteem completely.

"Would you like to come inside for a bit?"

N just continued to stare at her, giving a slow blink.

She faltered a bit. "To... have a drink or something?"

"Alright."

Sky high happy.

. . .

The next few days Belle was not at school. Touko frowned and considered calling her friend but decided against it. She felt awkward and the blonde's abrupt change in attitude made it all the more worse. Was she perhaps trying to track Natural down without her knowing? To warn him off from her?

She had not seen the beautiful man after she bid him a farewell from her apartment days before. They had a few cups of tea and made small talk of nothing important before he declared that he must head home for the time being. It made Touko curious if he had a curfew. It was definitely hard to think that a grown man still lived with his parents, but it was possible.

An image of N in week old boxer briefs, crusty socks and a stained wife beater came to mind and she inwardly cringed. It would be a surprise if that is how he is in the privacy of his own home, only cleaning up when he goes out.

_'I need to stop this infatuation,'_ Touko thought. She was starting to ignore her homework for the sake of hanging around the market in hopes of running into N. At the time she felt so giddy and girlish, wearing cute dresses and nice flats. But now that she thought about it, she felt a tad disgusted. This wasn't her. She was better than this.

When she left her last class of the day, Touko headed straight to the market, actually needing to pick up some fresh goods for the next few meals. Obviously she still had high hopes of catching a glimpse of N but would scold herself if she ever strayed from her original plan.

Her heart stopped for a nano second before stuttering forward. N was there at the market, at the usual place, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Of course some of the women had decided to hang around, not put off by his cold attitude.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Touko made sure to walk by and catch his eye. She gave a small wave, a big smile and said "Afternoon," before continuing to walk on. She silently congratulated herself, giving an imaginary pat on her back.

She knew whose hand clutched her arm moments later because the electrical current came back in full swing. She gasp and halted her steps, her skin breaking out in goose flesh and her blood chilled and boiled, a mix of winter and summer.

Touko thought she was going to pass out from the overwhelming sensations. Natural had not removed his hand from her and she wondered if he wanted her to throw herself at him, because she very damned well will if he did not release her.

"I... what...," he released her, his fingers lingering a little longer than necessary before fully withdrawing his hand. "Where are you going?"

She turned around to look at him, eyes wide and face flushed. His own eyes were wide open, but he looked wary. "I have to get food."

"What are you."

Touko honestly did not know how to answer that. If anything, she wanted to ask him the exact same question. Without another word she spun on her heel and continued on her way without a backwards glance.

He did not follow. She did not regret her decision to leave.

. . .

"I would like to get to know you more."

Touko jerked in her chair, nearly spilling over her iced coffee all over the newspaper she was reading. Looking up, she spotted Natural standing by the table she occupied at a small cafe, looking between confused and frustrated.

"Uhm," she swallowed and looked around, noticing the few occupants in the place watching the interaction with interest. "How about we walk and talk?"

"That would be better."

He waited patiently for her to finish up her drink and fold up the newspaper before following her out of the joint. They walked down the street in silence. It had only lasted close to ten minutes before he spoke again.

"Why are you so... "

"So...?" N had picked up on how the tone of her voice changed and knew he was treading on dangerous grounds. Females were so confusing.

"So, so... different. I don't understand you."

She barked out in humorous laughter. "The male species were never meant to!"

He frowned, not finding any of this funny.

"Look, N, I don't know what you want me to say. If it's about the weird feeling when we touch, I don't know what it is. I have a silly hunch but it's nothing worth mentioning."

"I would like to hear it."

"Uh, well," she flustered, wringing her hands together. "We could, you know, be like connected of some sorts. Soul mates,doyouseewhatImean."

"Excuse me?"

"Soul mates."

Natural stopped in his tracks and furrowed his brow. He watched Touko stop a few steps ahead, turning around and facing him with a reddened face.

"Soul... mates?"

"Yes. Silly, I know, but it is just a hunch. Have you touched any other women?"

"No, not intentionally." He ignored her sigh of relief, waiting for her to continue.

"Well it's the same for me. When I'm passing guys in the hall way at school and I touch someones arm, nothing happens. But with you... everything does."

She was now staring up at him, giving him a weird look. He did not know what to make of it. If he were to try and explain it, he would say her eye have given off a weird sheen, a bit more of life fueling in them. It gave him a warm feeling and his chest felt a little weird.

"There has to be something behind all this," he murmured, eyelids drooping. _'Ah, that made her face red.'_

"We can try to figure out what is causing this... but to do so may mean we have to touch more," she pursed her lips in nervousness and held her hand flat in front of her.

He watched the emotions play on her face with rapt attention, fascinated. He soon followed her action and placed his hand in front of him, pressing it into hers. They both inhaled sharply.

Touko had enough. She used her free hand to grab onto the front of N's shirt, wrinkling it in the process, and pulled him down to her level and placing her lips directly onto his.

Natural froze. Unknown sensations began to flood his system, making him tense further. He did not know what to do anymore. A side of him was saying that this was wrong, yet he felt so compelled to start moving against her. So that's what he did.

He knew she was happy when she relaxed her grip on his shirt and smoothed her hand out to rest on his neck. He did not place his own hand on her, but kept their joined hands together.

How to explain such a feeling? It was like flying, floating and falling at the same time. There was raised hairs, chilled flesh and fluttering butterflies in the stomach. He could go on, but his mind was beginning to fog.

He snapped to attention when he felt Touko rip herself from him. He looked down at her, eyes wide, but she wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was looking towards the ground, hands placed on her reddened cheeks.

"I... I...!"

N watched her escape once again and he had to stop himself from going after her.

For the first time in his life, Natural felt his heart rate accelerate.

. . .

A/N: "A mix of winter and summer." Such cheese, I wanted to die of embarassment from writing that. Big thank you to my beta-reeeader who makes all of this easy to read for you sweet pips!


	4. Chapter 4

Touko released a sigh of relief when Belle plopped down beside her at lunch time. She was beginning to worry that something had gone wrong with her friend and considered dropping by the blonde's apartment but still felt that pang of unease.

"Long time no see," she greeted before picking up another french fry from her tray.

"Indeed," Belle smiled brightly and began to dig into her own food. "Sorry I didn't contact you earlier. There was something important I had to do."

"Oh? What?"

"Nothing to worry about," Belle waved her hand, trying to assure her friend.

Touko wasn't biting, but decided to drop it in favor of keeping peace. "Sorry."

"Eh, for what?"

"I'm still seeing Natural."

"... Touko," Belle hunched forward with a heavy sigh. "I told you before, he is bad news. I'm just trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what? What exactly did Natural do so horrible that you are actually trying to forbid me from seeing him?"

"I can't say, I'm sorry."

"Then I won't stop seeing him."

"Touko!"

"No! Unless you convince me that he has committed some serious crime, I won't stop seeing him. Or... if you still have feelings for him, then I will back off."

"That's...," Belle bit her lip and looked down.

Touko held back her sigh and brought her friend into a hug. "Please don't cry. I just want an explanation on this. He makes me feel, I don't know, alive? It's different with him."

"Who's the one reading too many romance novels now?" Belle sniffled and blinked back her tears.

Touko laughed softly. "I am serious. Give me a reasonable explanation for all of this and I'll cut off any relations with him."

The blonde started to shift her eyes, wondering if she should just go ahead and spill the beans, since she was so down deep in trouble anyways. But it would probably turn more disastrous than everything already is now.

"Touko. If Natural starts acting strange in anyway, tell me."

"Pfft, he is already strange."

"I suppose so."

"You're strange too."

"Eh, you suck."

Belle swatted away the fry that had flung in her direction and teased her friend to no end. She could only hope and pray that everything continued to run smoothly and that Natural would get bored and leave this place.

. . .

N watched the female flutter around in the small kitchen with concealed amusement. Ever since he had asked to 'hang out' in the apartment, the woman had a skip in her step and a tune in her tone. It made him smile, almost, against his will that such a small simple request would give her such happiness.

_'Understanding females, perhaps I'll write a report on it one day to help other researchers,'_ N mused to himself.

"What'cha thinking about?" The brunette settled down a place of some orange looking food.

"You."

Touko nearly toppled her plate over. No matter how many times she heard that exact same answer, it always sent her heart into a painful yet hopeful stammer. "R—really?"

"Yes. Your moods are so... what is this?" He questioned suddenly, pulling a fork with some left over orange residue from his mouth.

"Mac and cheese, straight from the box!"

"It has strange texture and tastes a bit odd. I've never seen food like this in the market."

"Ah, healthy and wealthy," she snorted, scooped up some elbow noodles and shoved it into her mouth. She chewed quickly and swallowed before continuing, "it's a superb delicacy! For the college going people. Although I go to the market a lot, it is only to get a little bit of this and that. I never have enough money to just splurge." _'And to check you out. Can not forget about that.'_

"It is interesting," he murmured softly, scooping up more and chewed thoughtfully. "Is it better than the food in the market?"

"Hah, no way, more like ten times worse! But, uh, it's still a blessing for those who are low on cash," she added quickly after seeing a look of mild horror come over his face.

"I see," he sniffed in suspicion but continued eating anyways.

Touko kept her trap shut for the remainder of the meal, afraid of saying something really stupid to make the food go to waste.

Once finished, she brought the plates over to the kitchen and placed them into the sink, deciding to clean them after N decided to leave. She turned around and did not spot him at the table, but in the small living room looking at some paintings on the well. A wave of relief washed through her, thankful that she had been lazy the many times before she questioned wether to put up pictures of her friends, including photos of Belle.

Her blond friend puzzled her to no end. She was anxious to know what went on between the two, and resisted the urge to 'innocently' pull out a picture to show N, just to see his reaction or response. Would he sneer in disgust? Would his eyes widen and lips fumble to form words? Or would he just keep his nearly emotionless face in tact and not comment?

"You are thinking of something unpleasant." The rich deep voice startled the brunette, whose eyes shot over to her companion. He was looking at her from the corner of his eye, standing in front of some abstract painting above her two seater couch.

"I guess. Just wondering about this essay coming up before break," she lied quickly. The essay part was true, but it would give her no problems.

"Hm." Natural looked disbelieving but did not comment, deciding to turn back to the photo and tilting his head to the site. "These pieces of art, I have absolutely no words for them because they all look like blocks and blobs of nothing."

"Pffft, you got that right. I bought them at the Pika-Mart because they were cheap and looked pretty. The colors are nice and plenty, it definitely brings some life to these white boring walls."

"Yes," he breathed, as if finally understanding the purpose picture. "The room does look a little less dull with these hanging."

Touko grinned and showed him the rest of the art blobs hanging around her apartment.

. . .

Touko frowned and slumped her shoulders, guilt overwhelming her at such an intense weight that she could not keep them up. Belle sat in front of her, with her arms crossed and resting on the desk, chin on top. She had a look of sadness and slight disappointment and was not even trying to hide it.

"Are you sure you can't join us?"

"I'm... " The brunette bit a small part of the inside of her mouth in a sudden burst of frustration at being bothered, immediately followed by the guilt multiplying tenfold.

Belle had asked at the beginning of class if she had wanted to hang out with their friends, the ones she had been neglecting in favor of being with Natural, and shot her down without a second thought. They both had been shocked, because Touko was always one of the most pumped about going out, to take a break from her normal routine.

Belle said nothing more until class ended a couple minutes ago, pinning her friend with an accusing, knowing stare.

"They have come to the conclusion that you have found a guy and are wondering if... you are one of those kind of girls."

Those kind of girls. Yes, Touko knows all too well about them. She complained, on more than one occasion, that it was annoying and disgusting to see how a girl can just give up on all her friends in favor of a guy. It made her turn her nose up into the air to look down on them, thinking how pathetic it was to give up the important people in your life for one sole dude. It did not work for many people. Friends became alienated. If and when the guy dumped you, or vice versa, you have no friends around to comfort you through the ordeal because it was you yourself who shoved them away.

When Belle got no response she let out a loud sigh and stood, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder before heading to the door.

"Wait," Touko demanded in a desperate voice, eyes wide with a tinge of fear. She swallowed thickly, mouth suddenly feeling dry. "I—is he that kind of person?" Will he snatch her heart, hold it in a tight grip and throw it when he was done?

Belle turned around, her brows pushed together and lips tugged downward into a small frown. She did not answer, but her expression said it all.

Touko stood up abruptly, and slammed her hands onto the cheap wooden table. She needed a verbal answer and her eyes begged for it.

"I know that in the end, it won't be happy. You both will fall if you continue this, and not in a good way. He will definitely skip out—"

"Let's go. I think I need some alcohol in me." The brunette spoke in a calm tone in favor of using her willpower to keep her tears at bay.

_'Heck, here I want to cry over some guy who isn't even my boyfriend! I don't even think he considers us best friends.'_ Touko breathed with tight control through her nose, inhaling sharply and deeply, exhaling slow and smooth.

"We both could use a drink." Belle agreed.

"Or ten."

"Either way, Touya is inviting us to this bar he goes to every Friday with his homework club buddies since he is the only one able to make it out tonight out of all the rest of the gang."

"Really? Isn't this going to be the first time he's introduced us to them?"

"It is! It's only been, what, two years since he's mentioned them? Makes you think who he is more ashamed of, them or us," Belle lifted a hand to her mouth and snickered.

"Huh," Touko mused, finding it easier to deal with her feelings if she ignored the source of them and focus on something else. "Now that you got me thinking—"

. . .

A/N: Anoooother chapter up! Thanks to my beta, BlackRose105 from dA! I hope all my American readers have a happy thanksgiving and a safe Black Friday.


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